New State Vaccine Bills Threaten Vaccine Choices

Have you looked at the NVIC Advocacy Portal lately? There is a flurry of activity across state legislatures regarding vaccines. No wait, not a flurry, a snowstorm … even a blizzard. NVIC’s Director of Advocacy Dawn Richardson and Assistant Director of Advocacy, Cindy Loveland, have been tracking 91 bills—including companion bills that appear separately in the House and Senate—across 33 states!

More States, More Bills

Since the NVIC Advocacy Portal launched in 2010, the number of bills threatening the legal right to make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccination in America has been growing at an alarming rate. For comparison, the portal tracked 61 bills in 25 states in 2011.1

The 91 bills under consideration for 2013 represent different legislative goals for each state. But when you look at the big picture, Dawn noted that the bills have common themes: attacks on exemptions, employee vaccine mandates, tracking systems/registries, meningitis vaccine mandates and human papillomavirus (HPV) mandates.

Restricting Exemptions is Most Important Issue To Battle

A number of proposed bills are attempting to restrict the use of conscientious or philosophical, religious and medical exemptions to mandatory vaccination laws. NVIC is spearheading an organized grassroots effort to provide fact-based information about vaccine safety and choice issues to legislators to help them understand the importance of protecting informed consent rights.

The bills targeting non-medical exemptions for elimination from state public health laws are being supported by a wealthy and politically powerful lobbying coalition - medical trade groups and public health agencies aligned with pharmaceutical companies that take a “no exceptions” approach to mandated use of all government recommended vaccines.

Oregon and Vermont Being Targeted

In Oregon, SB 132 threatens to completely remove the religious exemption, which has always been broadly interpreted, Dawn said. Under the proposed legislation, a parent can request a non-medical, personal exemption to opt out of vaccination for a child, but not without having the additional burden of securing a signature from a state-designated medical practitioner verifying that the parents have received the state’s version of information about the risks and benefits of vaccination. Additionally, the parent will have to obtain a certificate verifying completion of an online vaccine education module.2

In Vermont, companion bills HB 138 and SB 102 suspend philosophical and religious exemptions if the vaccination rate falls below 90 percent. There has not been any floor action on these bills, which means there is still time for Vermont residents to make their opinions known to legislators.34

Vermont NVIC State Director Jennifer Stella noted these Vermont bills are harmful because the autonomous right to decide whether or not to inject a drug into your body or that of your child should not be contingent upon the number of people exercising that right. She strongly encourages Vermont’s elected lawmakers to consider the importance of unrestricted preservation of the fundamental human right informed consent, and not grant any further power to unelected agencies.

Forcing Teachers, Health and Child Care Workers To Vaccinate

Another hot topic across multiple states is “no exceptions” employer mandates tying vaccination status to right to employment, although this is not a new target in 2013.

In Vermont, legislators are considering SB 103 and HB 114 that would require pertussis vaccinations for teachers and child care workers. Though there has been little action on both bills, it is still a great concern that teachers, as well as child care workers, are being targeted with vaccine mandates that could end their careers.56

Child care workers are also being threatened in Texas. SB 64 would require licensed child care facilities to develop and implement mandatory vaccine policies. The bill passed in the Senate in March, but Dawn noted there could be opportunity for Texas residents to stop it from passing in the House.7

What is interesting in Connecticut is that SB 1128 proposes flu vaccine mandates for health care workers who have direct contact with patients and residents and HB 5539 proposes flu vaccine mandates for nursing home employees, but there is also SB 55, which prohibits any employer from mandating flu vaccine as a condition of employment.8910

NVIC has a long-standing public record of voicing opposition to flu vaccine mandates that lack flexible medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions.

NVIC Opposes Flu Vaccine Mandates

In 2012, NVIC submitted written public comments to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) stating that the mandates “penalize those holding religious or conscientious belief objections to vaccinations.” NVIC stated, “It is unfair, irresponsible and unethical for employers to force health care workers to choose between their health, their deeply held spiritual or conscientious beliefs or their job.” 11

In 2013, NVIC co-founder and President Barbara Loe Fisher wrote a referenced commentary about the aggressive movement toward unfair employer mandates and how several major labor unions, such as the American Nurses Association and Services Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Employees Union, oppose such mandates.12

More Harassment Reports On Freedom Wall

Additionally, there is an increasing number of harassment reports made by adult workers to NVIC’s Vaccine Freedom Wall describing how they are being threatened or fired from their jobs for declining vaccination.13

Dawn and Cindy are working hard to help vaccine choice advocates warn the public that bills of this nature in Vermont, Texas, Connecticut and all the other states need to be opposed and legislators need to be educated.

“We can only do so much by getting the information out there,” Dawn said. “The people directly affected by the removal of vaccine exemptions from state laws have to speak up and defend their informed consent rights.”

Children and Students Targeted for Meningitis Vaccine Mandates

The questions of necessity, effectiveness, safety and cost come into play when considering the more recent disease-specific mandates that are being placed on adolescents, teenagers and college-age adults.

Several states are pushing the meningitis vaccine. In Tennessee, the governor signed SB 93 into law on April 12, 2013, and now any incoming public college student will be required to receive the meningitis vaccine as a condition of enrollment as of July 1, 2013.14

In Missouri, SB 421 would require children at age 11 years and again at age 16 years to receive the meningitis vaccine.15

NVIC has always questioned the calls by pharma, medical trade groups and public health officials to push widespread use of meningitis vaccine, including the fact that meningococcal disease is rare in the United States, the vaccine itself does not cover all prevalent meningococcal strains and it is a very costly vaccine.16

HPV Vaccine Mandates, Too

Ever since the HPV vaccine was approved, there has been heated debate on the issue. Virginia and Washington, D.C. are the only two states to require HPV vaccine for middle school attendance, but both states allow an “opt out” provision and do not require parents to formally file a medical or religious exemption.

This year, Virginia had HB1614 up for consideration to require HPV vaccine for ALL children with the first dose given before the child enters the sixth grade.

Although the bill died in the House, the wording of the bill expanded the mandate to boys, a major source of new debate.17

CA Assembly Health Committee Vetoes Good Bill

Last week, the CA Assembly Health Committee voted to shelve a bill (AB 599) that would have reversed a previously passed bill (AB 499) allowing minors as young as 12 years old to receive vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV and hepatitis B, without parental knowledge or consent.18

Monitoring Citizens with Vaccine Tracking Registries

In terms of government-operated vaccine tracking registries, some states, such as Texas, are attempting to remove informed consent rights from the intrusive electronic registries like in SB 40 and HB 7722021, while others, such as Idaho and North Dakota, are expanding childhood tracking systems to include adults.

According to Dawn, the challenge with reaching legislators is that they have been getting inaccurate and misleading information for so many years from medical trade groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and there needs to be a paradigm shift.

“We have good information and good people contacting legislators,” she said. “When our members contact legislators, often they come back with hard questions. We need people to take ownership of the vaccine safety and informed consent issue, do the hard work and actively educate their legislators.”

Act Now for Vaccine Safety and Informed Consent Rights

Using the NVIC Advocacy Portal is free. Please sign up and also consider making a donation of $10 or more to NVIC to support operation of the Portal and expansion of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America. To make your charitable, tax-deductible donation to NVIC’s public education and advocacy work click here, or make your donation using your PayPal account.

NVIC in the News

Study Debunks Common Autism Worry About Vaccines - NVIC co-founder and President Barbara Loe Fisher says in this article that the DeStefano vaccines-autism study is not reassuring to parents. She highlights the lack of a control group of unvaccinated children and the disregard for genetic and biological factors affecting the children’s susceptibility to vaccines. Barbara is quoted in saying, “There is an urgent need for a well-designed, prospective long-term study that includes vaccinated and unvaccinated infants and children conducted by nonindustry, nongovernmental investigators to evaluate not only all the morbidity and mortality outcomes, but also to measure pathological changes in the brain and immune function over time in both groups.” Read the full storyatAmerican Medical News, Tanya Albert Henry, Apr. 15, 2013.

Making An Informed HPV Vaccine Decision - Veteran health journalist and radio show host Linda O'Connor interviews NVIC's Barbara Loe Fisher on the Gardasil vaccine controversy and defending the right of parents to make informed HPV vaccine choices for their children on her Buffalo, NY "Parent Talk" radio show. Listen to the podcast on theBreeze radio (FM102.9 and AM1230) on Apr. 13, 2013.

In the News

New York Kindergartner banned from School After Vaccine Refusal - School officials in Staten Island, N.Y., denied a kindergartener the right to attend school because her mother refused to get her the chickenpox vaccine, fearing the vaccine could harm her newborn baby. A hereditary immune disorder runs in the Wagner family, and although it is unknown if the baby has it, the family pediatrician recommended against the vaccine. The Wagner family applied to the New York City Department of Education for a medical exemption, but was denied. Read the full story at ABC News, Apr. 9, 2013.

New York Requires Health Workers to Wear Masks - The New York State Department of Health passed a rule for all unvaccinated employees, students and volunteers in healthcare, hospital, home health and long-term health facilities wear a surgical or procedure mask while patients or residents are present during the influenza season. According to Crain’s New York Business, 10 groups provided public comments in opposition. Although the New York State Nurses Association and 1199 SEIU encourage vaccination, they oppose mandatory vaccination. Read the full story on the New York Department of Health website, and Crain’s New York Business, Apr. 11, 2013.

UK Pushes Measles Vaccination Sessions - Measles vaccination sessions are taking place at 13 schools this week across South Wales in response to a growing measles epidemic centered on the Swansea area. In one day, more than 1,800 people received the measles vaccination across four drop-in clinics. Last week, there were 808 cases of measles and one death, and updated numbers are due out from Public Health Wales this week. Read the full story here. Wales Online (UK), Apr. 22, 2013.

Ten Percent of Population Has Learning Disabilities - Learning disabilities affect up to 10 percent of the population, according to a new study. The findings also show that children and young adults often have more than one disability and need individualized support in the classroom to tailor educational programs to address a combination of disabilities. Read the full story here. Science Daily. Apr. 18, 2013.

This is outrageous - with all the lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, with all the side effects - not to mention the inefficacy - of many drugs and the renewed interest in helping the body to heal itself, forcing people to get vaccines is nothing short of insane. We all know - and we're better informed these days due to the shrinking world - that many of these vaccines are rushed to market, untested and frightening.

I have a movie for you to watch - anyone reading this: I Am Legend. Yes, it's a fantasy, but this is a real danger. Forced vaccinations that then harm everyone who uses them and forcing a crisis.

We are moving FORWARD - and ironically, in the health world, that means remembering what our ancestors knew: that the body has an intelligence fueled by our own beliefs, environment and lifestyle and it knows how to heal itself given the motivation to do so. We're moving back to this for many reasons, not the least of which is the dangerous and inexpensive drugs being pushed on people, hurting and killing them and an FDA run by pharma interests, not by concern for American citizens.

I am a shut in by virtue of chemical sensitivity for the past 30 years. I was first made very ill and hospitalized by a vaccine in 1974.

I am extremely allergic to chemicals, (formaldehyde, aluminum, mercury), milk, egg, wheat, and a whole host of other foods and inhalants. If I were to be required to take a vaccine, I would most probably either die or need hospitalization.

I would like to feel certain that I will never be required to take a vaccine again for any reason. My objection would be medical, and since I do not go out in public I should think that it would not be unreasonable to accept my requirements to be let alone.

Knowing how a vaccine affected me I have no doubt that the number of vaccines being put into people's bloodstreams is hurting a great number of lives. I can see no reason for it other than 1) money, and 2) a means of controlling population. Since no vaccine on label guarantees immunity, and no vaccine delivers immunity (statistics show this) and since their side effects cause terrible health consequences, I should think that those in charge should put a little more humanity into public health policy. Leaving a young boy or girl suffering from allergies, asthma, seizures, bowel problems, autism, or diabetes, just to name a few of the side effects of vaccines, is unconscionable especially when they were healthy to begin with.

Recently, Dr. Mercola reported on a kindergarten student being turned away from school by the DOE because her pediatrician has determined that from her family history that the risks of getting a chicken pox vaccine out weigh the benefits: http://everlast.mercola.com/r/?id=h75c29d1,16a95e1,16b7547

The DOE in tandem with their vaccine manufacturer over lords have now determined they know better than medical doctors - esp. when medical science disagrees with vaccination.

My wife and I have the shared attitude regarding this subject. Our 17 year old daughter developed Ehlers Danlos syndrome shortly after receiving the Guardasil vaccine. After researching ingredients, reports, and published side effects on this subject it has come to this.

No more sugar coating... It will be over our dead bodies before we allow anyone to tell us we have to vaccinate our 5 year old boy. We would rather move out of this country if our freedoms diminish any further!

Once the FDA is successful in curing at least one disease maybe we may listen. However after all the billions spent on synthetic drugs the FDA has proven one thing. Dollars are more important to them then LIFE!

Their agenda could not be any clearer unless you have been completely brainwashed. Fortunately we see through those attempts.

The govt. controlling parents' decisions on vacctn's just outrages me! I am sure w/in 5-10yrs they will team up w/the pharma's and make us vacc. our kids. But who will pay for our child's rehab bills--we will! My child was non-vax'd but then agree'd to 1 MMR....now at 4yrs old he has tic disorders. It is not hereditary on either side. Now on a medical basis, will never give him another vacctn. since he now has a neurological issue. IF the govt. would force me to do this, I will move to another country! This is a sad world we live in when our rights r taken away from parenting!

Thank you so much for your continued efforts to inform the public, and help us know the dangers associated with vaccines. I am a firm believer that the body can heal itself if given the proper nutrition! We as a nation are not receiving anything close to healthy food choices. The public is being lead by big pharma, and other food companies that have no other motive than money for what they are giving the public, and calling it food! We are becoming a nation who wants everything the easy way, fast foods especially! Thank you again for your tireless efforts to help the public know the truth!

Interesting, they cannot sell us on the benefits because their product is not worth a dam and downright dangerous. So to correct that problem they are going to force us into vaccination. We have an over bearing Nanny government that needs to be told to mind its own business.

I have a T-shirt that says " I'd tell you to mind your own business" on the front and "but the government hasn't told me what that is yet" on the back.

The government is established to protect the citizens and to support them in conducting business. Parents should have the final say in all things affecting their children under the age of 18. If the government, big pharma or the medical industry disagrees, too bad. Parents have the last say.

This country spends so much on drugs and and medicine and is certainly not one of the healthier countries in the world. It is essential to follow the money, then one can see why so many vaccines are mandated here and who stands to gain the most from their distribution. A whole generation of adults and children will be screwed up and no one is bothering to entertain the notion that vaccines are at least partly to blame. The lawmakers need to let us exercise our constitutional rights (what's that?) and make decisions for ourselves. Nancy Nurse

I have only received a vaccination once, antibiotics, since being released from the military in 1960. I relented to the doctor's opinion because the doctor insisted that antibiotics were necessary to treat a problem he could not diagnose. That was 15 years ago and the antibiotics did nothing. My self diagnosis was valley fever and natural remedies cured, yes cured, the problem. I have never had a flu shot and last flu was 1999, prior to that 1979. I can't remember when I last had a cold, I'm 73, real age test 44 and feel in my 30"s. Are vaccines necessary? Not in my opinion.

I woke up this morning to find a letter to the editor entitled "Immunizations: New information for parents". Sent by state heads of pediatrics, Obstetrics, and family docs. It said nothing more than parents must vaccinate with the Tdap. Babies are dying because we are not vaccinating for whooping cough. I was furious about the coercive, scare tactic nature of this article. Has some new epidemic happened that I have not noticed? How is this new information? Apparently the new info is that now pregnant women must get the vaccine too for every pregnancy because it maximizes antibodies. Sounds like junk science to me! We are not protected enough during pregnancy? Nature is no longer doing a good job? There is so much wrong with this type of expression from powerful caregivers I don't know where to start! How about some info on the risks, maybe!

The anual vaccine revenue market reports show $18bil in 2006, $28 bil in 2010, and projection for 2016 is to get up to $52 billion by way of increasing markets for existing products and bringing new ones to market.No way can they achieve this massive revenue increase without force and fear mongering. It's appaling!!!

how do i become an advocate and help bills to not pass forcing people to vaccinate?

EDITORS NOTE: Kristin, join our State Advocacy Team and register at www.NVICADVOCACY.org! You can then contact the State or National Advocacy Director to learn more. You can also volunteer to work with NVIC at http://www.nvic.org/Support-NVIC.aspx

Absoultley crazy that now our government is going to force vaccines on its citizens! If the vaccines work then why force the ones who don't want vaccinated if the rest are protected. The military forced and continues to force our military to get Anthrax vaccines knowing it made them sick and now most of them are dead (Gulf war). Eugenics and depopulation agenda out in the open!!

Does anyone have knowledge of the bills presented in Texas regarding vaccine mandates in the 2015 session? I know that a rep in Dsllas is pushing for one to be presented, along with many others. I'm trying to gather ammo to get them stopped!!!Thanks!